A Fire Alarm Control Panel (FACP), or Fire Alarm Control Unit (FACU), referred to herein collectively as a FACP, is the controlling component of a fire alarm system. The FACP may communicate with environmental sensors which detect changes indicating a fire condition. The FACP may also monitor operational integrity of such sensors and control of equipment in case of a fire condition.
Access control systems may be used to prevent rooms or other areas from being visited by unauthorized persons. Such systems typically include an electrically operated door strike and/or magnetic lock, an access input device mated with the door strike or lock, a central computer, and a local controller configured to operate the door strike and/or lock. Such access control systems may include a network of Ethernet cable connecting elements such as the central computer and the local controllers. It is also known to power such devices using Power over Ethernet (PoE) and to send control signals in Internet Protocol (IP) format.
There is a need for FACP systems and access control systems to function cooperatively. Namely, in the event of a fire or other alarm condition, an alarm signal issued by the FACP must be capable of overriding the control of door strikes and locks. With reference to FIG. 1, in prior art systems a central computer 100 was connected via a structured Ethernet cable 110 to a device controller, such as a door controller 200. In turn the device controller 200 was connected via a wire pair 320 to the controlled device, such as a door strike or lock. The device controller 200 of these systems also needed to be responsive to the control of an FACP 400. However, due to the fact that the FACP control signal (i.e., trigger output signal) is a non-IP signal which presents a short or open upon alarm and may present a voltage as well, is not compatible to be delivered via a structure cable using standard Ethernet signaling protocol, each individual device controller 200 had to be connected to the FACP 400 via a wire pair 410. The need to run a wire pair 410 to each device controller often resulted in excessive wiring costs and challenges. Therefore there is a need to provide an FACP with the ability to control a device without incurring excessive wiring costs and challenges.